Has Iggy Pop recorded his last album?

Will “Post Pop Depression”, Iggy Pop’s 17th studio album, be his last?
Produced by Queens of the Stone Age frontman, Josh Homme, the album,15 months in the making, is due for release on March 18th 2016.

“I thought it might be an idea to not keep trying to squeeze out another one,” Iggy said in a newspaper article this week. In April the old trooper will be 69. The way he’s treated his battered old body over the years, it could well feel like a 100 or more.

My 1972 Raw Power LP and my new book. Almost the same size

I’ve followed Iggy’s career and championed his cause after watching him and the Stooges record his Raw Power album with David Bowie in CBS’s London studios in 1972. It was the first Stooges record to give Iggy equal billing with the band, with Pop’s name up in lights on the album sleeve, though not on the front cover.

The front cover was Iggy, alone in all his youthful glory, with no typeface at
all debasing Mick Rock’s photograph. I’m playing Raw Power, original 1973 vinyl of course, as I type.

The rumors flying round CBS staff at the time were rife. “Iggy cuts himself with a knife on the stage. There’s blood everywhere.” “Iggy smashes the microphone stand into his face. There’s blood everywhere.” “Iggy dives face-first off the stage into the audience. There’s blood everywhere.” Iggy gets his cock out on stage. There’s …” Say no more.

Was Iggy the first to crowd surf? He gets my vote.

This was long before mosh pits and crowd surfing, of course. Indeed, there are claims that Iggy, after smearing his body with peanut butter, invented stage diving, and crowd surfing, at a concert in Cincinnati in 1970. Who can dispute it, or any of the accusations made against Iggy, in those wild, outrageous days when anything went.

Raw Power cover without AMERICA’S Gift obliterating it

But if Iggy wants to take it easy in his old age, who can blame him? It’s hard to believe the old stage diver is almost 70. How frightening it is how time has flown, but it’s the same for everyone once they hit 21, isn’t it?

Iggy’s name credit & 1972 LP’s title are on album’s back cover only

Iggy was in the prime of youth back in 1972. It would be inconceivable he would have kept performing as long as he has done. The man’s an international treasure. So let’s just treasure this new album Iggy Pop releases this Friday, last album or not.

Album collaborators, John Homme and Iggy Pop

By the way, I hope you’ve noticed how big AMERICA’s gift is in the photograph where it sits with Raw Power. For those who can’t remember, album sleeves were12.25 inches by 12.25 inches back in the day.

So that’s a pretty big blues book, you have to admit. And it’s dead easy to order. Just click the link here: http://goo.gl/At5AZe

P.S. Notice how the official photograph for Raw Power above is different to the pic featured on actual UK album released in 1972, as pictured with my book. As Marvin Gaye once sang, “What’s Goin’ On?”